Ryan Swan of Overland High School (34), second form right, and James Dalrymple of Arapahoe High School (5) are fighting for the free ball in the 2nd half of the game at Arapahoe High School in Centennial on Jan. 18. 2014. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Likening it to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in college basketball, Bylevald has created the Continental vs. Centennial High School Basketball Challenge. The three-day tournament, which takes place June 19-21 at Heritage High School in Littleton, will pit teams from the two leagues against one another.

“The idea started about a year ago,” Bylevald said. “I wondered, ‘Why don’t the two best leagues ever get to play each other?’ ”

When he began floating the idea around to the other coaches, he said everybody was on board. With the limits of scheduling during the regular season, he decided to create a summer tournament. All eight of the Centennial League teams will take on eight of the 12 squads from the Continental League.

“Many things change before the season but this is the only way these two powerhouses can go at it,” he said.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.